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Topic: What were you before you were Orthodox? (Read 4065 times)

Raised Southern BaptistIn college became Methodist for a couple of yearsDrifted into Charismatic circles during that time and stayed in that for about 21 years,then in 95 became convinced of Orthodoxy and was received in 98.

I was raised Baptist.At 16, I visited an Episcopal church for Christmas Eve Eucharist and I was very drawn to the liturgical style service. I learned about Orthodoxy a couple of years ago (didn't know it was a "thing" before that), and it felt right from the moment I learned about it.I'd always questioned that if our (Baptist) pastor said things like "In the original church..." before he made a contrasting statement with our own church, why shouldn't we BE more like the Original church. Finding out about Orthodoxy answered that for me.

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Baptized with my husband and our four year old daughter on May 4, 2013

Initially non-denom/Baptist, played around with more charismatic stuff but never really felt right about it.

I became a pretty classical Protestant (Presbyterian - PCA) for a few years, so much that I didn't really look like a modern Presbyterian (very sacramental, argued for the Ever-Virginity of the Theotokos, as Calvin himself did, etc.) and eventually became convinced of the historicity of the Orthodox Church, glory to God.

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"Hades is not a place, no, but a state of the soul. It begins here on earth. Just so, paradise begins in the soul of a man here in the earthly life. Here we already have contact with the divine..." -St. John, Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco, Homily On the Sunday of Orthodoxy

Baptized Southern Baptist at 6. Left the Faith at 10. Agnostic/unseeking for 10 yrs. From 12 to 20 my religion must have been myself (aka drugs, sex, homelessness, theft, violence and other various excursions).

At 20 yrs. old I began seeking and practiced TM and other forms of meditation until I took the Nazarite Vow as a Rasta at 23. Reggae helped save my life. I found Orthodoxy at 26. Received a year later into the OCA. I'm 36 now.

I became a pretty classical Protestant (Presbyterian - PCA) for a few years, so much that I didn't really look like a modern Presbyterian (very sacramental, argued for the Ever-Virginity of the Theotokos, as Calvin himself did, etc.)...

For some reason, the PCA managed to produce quite a bit of this for a few years. It was a minority report, for sure, but I know some of the more evangelical Presbyterians were calling for a certain Presbytery to get the boot because they weren't expelling those elements.

Toward the end, it started getting weird, resulting in questions like "How do you feel about paedocommunion?" within minutes of you walking into a church.

It all ironed out eventually, with the more classical magisterial Protestants either transferring to another synod/confederation or converting to Rome/Orthodoxy.

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Blessed Nazarius practiced the ascetic life. His clothes were tattered. He wore his shoes without removing them for six years.

THE OPINIONS HERE MAY NOT REFLECT THE ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED ORTHODOX CHURCH

Baptized Southern Baptist at 6. Left the Faith at 10. Agnostic/unseeking for 10 yrs. From 12 to 20 my religion must have been myself (aka drugs, sex, homelessness, theft, violence and other various excursions).

At 20 yrs. old I began seeking and practiced TM and other forms of meditation until I took the Nazarite Vow as a Rasta at 23. Reggae helped save my life. I found Orthodoxy at 26. Received a year later into the OCA. I'm 36 now.

How did you leave being a Southern Baptist at 10?

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“There is your brother, naked, crying, and you stand there confused over the choice of an attractive floor covering.”

Baptized Southern Baptist at 6. Left the Faith at 10. Agnostic/unseeking for 10 yrs. From 12 to 20 my religion must have been myself (aka drugs, sex, homelessness, theft, violence and other various excursions).

At 20 yrs. old I began seeking and practiced TM and other forms of meditation until I took the Nazarite Vow as a Rasta at 23. Reggae helped save my life. I found Orthodoxy at 26. Received a year later into the OCA. I'm 36 now.

How did you leave being a Southern Baptist at 10?

My parents got divorced and I didn't have to go to church anymore. To be clear, our Baptist church didn't commonly baptize 6yr.olds. I specifically asked to be baptized and went up for an altar call, spoke with a deacon and arranged for it the next Sunday. The pastor was quite surprised but went through with it. Anyways, my Dad wasn't very "religious" though he did read the Bible and I lived with my Mom who went off the deep end shortly after the divorce. This was probably due to being raised in a strict household and then getting married at 18.So yes it was a conscious decision to leave the Faith. I could have continued by attending a Grace Community Church (pseudo-Baptist non-denom.) with my grandparents (by this time everyone had relocated and switched churches) but chose skateboarding and partying above all else.

I became a pretty classical Protestant (Presbyterian - PCA) for a few years, so much that I didn't really look like a modern Presbyterian (very sacramental, argued for the Ever-Virginity of the Theotokos, as Calvin himself did, etc.)...

For some reason, the PCA managed to produce quite a bit of this for a few years. It was a minority report, for sure, but I know some of the more evangelical Presbyterians were calling for a certain Presbytery to get the boot because they weren't expelling those elements.

Toward the end, it started getting weird, resulting in questions like "How do you feel about paedocommunion?" within minutes of you walking into a church.

It all ironed out eventually, with the more classical magisterial Protestants either transferring to another synod/confederation or converting to Rome/Orthodoxy.

Yes, I remember this. There was a lot of talk about paedocommunion and other similar practices during my time there. Coming there from a low-church background, I initially was opposed...but the PCA does practice infant baptism and at my church we always got the talk about how this meant the baby was a "full member of the community, accepted into Christ, etc." didn't take long for such talk to convince me to support paedocommunion, if we were to be consistent in our theology (being Presbyterians don't chrismate). I don't know if the pastor there was a paedocommunion proponent or not, I don't think so though...which in my mind just meant he was inconsistent.

Ultimately, Presbyterianism prepared me to accept higher church concepts, and I credit the changes it made to my way of thinking to allow me to more readily accept Orthodoxy. I don't think I could've jumped from being evangelical to being Orthodox. But to be fair, I was never a very good evangelical. That said, I still have a lot of respect for Protestants who think like I used to as a Presbyterian and always enjoy my conversations with folks that belong to conservative Presbyterian or Anglican groups, the LCMS, and other similar-minded folks.

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"Hades is not a place, no, but a state of the soul. It begins here on earth. Just so, paradise begins in the soul of a man here in the earthly life. Here we already have contact with the divine..." -St. John, Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco, Homily On the Sunday of Orthodoxy

I became a pretty classical Protestant (Presbyterian - PCA) for a few years, so much that I didn't really look like a modern Presbyterian (very sacramental, argued for the Ever-Virginity of the Theotokos, as Calvin himself did, etc.)...

For some reason, the PCA managed to produce quite a bit of this for a few years. It was a minority report, for sure, but I know some of the more evangelical Presbyterians were calling for a certain Presbytery to get the boot because they weren't expelling those elements.

Toward the end, it started getting weird, resulting in questions like "How do you feel about paedocommunion?" within minutes of you walking into a church.

It all ironed out eventually, with the more classical magisterial Protestants either transferring to another synod/confederation or converting to Rome/Orthodoxy.

Yes, I remember this. There was a lot of talk about paedocommunion and other similar practices during my time there. Coming there from a low-church background, I initially was opposed...but the PCA does practice infant baptism and at my church we always got the talk about how this meant the baby was a "full member of the community, accepted into Christ, etc." didn't take long for such talk to convince me to support paedocommunion, if we were to be consistent in our theology (being Presbyterians don't chrismate). I don't know if the pastor there was a paedocommunion proponent or not, I don't think so though...which in my mind just meant he was inconsistent.

Ultimately, Presbyterianism prepared me to accept higher church concepts, and I credit the changes it made to my way of thinking to allow me to more readily accept Orthodoxy. I don't think I could've jumped from being evangelical to being Orthodox. But to be fair, I was never a very good evangelical. That said, I still have a lot of respect for Protestants who think like I used to as a Presbyterian and always enjoy my conversations with folks that belong to conservative Presbyterian or Anglican groups, the LCMS, and other similar-minded folks.

I think that the reason that some of the conservative Protestant churches (LCMS and WELS for sure) baptise infants but do not commune them is because they strongly believe that communion is taken "for the remission of sins". Since baptism has already washed away the original sin (in their view), there is no need to commune an infant or small child since they cannot prepare by examining themselves since they are still short of the age of reason and are therefor innocent.

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I would be happy to agree with you, but then both of us would be wrong.

Nominally a combined Methodist/Presbyterian in youth. Nothing from 14-39 yrs of age in 2003; hesitantly fundamentalist in 2003, 4 Square Pentecostal in 2004 but randomly attended 1st DL in august 2004 & went on to become Orthodox by Holy Saturday in 2005.

Lutheran (LCA, then ELCA - these distinctions are important to Lutherans!) all my life, until twelve years ago when I attended my first Divine Liturgy. Never expected that I would be anything but Lutheran - I had been accepted to seminary and was in the discernment process for the ordained ministry.

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"If but ten of us lead a holy life, we shall kindle a fire which shall light up the entire city."

Lutheran (LCA, then ELCA - these distinctions are important to Lutherans!) all my life, until twelve years ago when I attended my first Divine Liturgy. Never expected that I would be anything but Lutheran - I had been accepted to seminary and was in the discernment process for the ordained ministry.

similar story here (although I was younger, and so seminary was just being "suggested" at the time).

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Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth

I don't ascribe to fundamentalist dictates on my life as much as I used to, because paying too much attention to that can be a little detrimental and gets me rule focused instead of God focused (I'd rather be wrong but honest than fake being someone I am not, and I am still pretty conservative), and I have much to learn in Orthodoxy.

We agree on this. Being God focused is what is important, and I wish everyone was, myself included. as far as "I'd rather be wrong but honest than fake being someone I am not, and I am still pretty conservative". Indeed, if we fake being someone we're not, that makes us hypocrites. And God deserves a lot better than that. However, I respect people's beliefs, thoughts and lifestyles, just as I want them to respect mine. However, I can't tolerate people who are trying to shove their beliefs on me, or anyone that matters to me for that matter. I maybe wrong. But better wrong than hypocrite.

I was Orthodox before, but I'm sort of in between Christian and Orthodox currently.

interesting. How exactly do you see any difference between the 2? The reason I am asking is because I fail to see the difference.

I found that interesting as well. I think it is because many Protestants prefer to call themselves "Christian," sometimes as if that designation is their exclusive property. My girlfriend's father once said I was not a Christian because I was an RC

I was Orthodox before, but I'm sort of in between Christian and Orthodox currently.

interesting. How exactly do you see any difference between the 2? The reason I am asking is because I fail to see the difference.

I found that interesting as well. I think it is because many Protestants prefer to call themselves "Christian," sometimes as if that designation is their exclusive property. My girlfriend's father once said I was not a Christian because I was an RC

That's a lack of understanding and knowledge. I know because I was once the same way.

I was Orthodox before, but I'm sort of in between Christian and Orthodox currently.

interesting. How exactly do you see any difference between the 2? The reason I am asking is because I fail to see the difference.

I found that interesting as well. I think it is because many Protestants prefer to call themselves "Christian," sometimes as if that designation is their exclusive property. My girlfriend's father once said I was not a Christian because I was an RC

i was baptised as an orthodox when I was 2. A friend of mine's mother is however a pentecostal. When I told her I am a christian. She was so surprised. What for? It's not like she is the only christian on the face of the earth. This is my wound ever since I can remember going to church. All the denomination claim authenticity, and treat you like you are a devil worshiper, just because you don't fit their agenda. This needs to stop. But I don't see it happening any time soon.

Roman Catholic - active and then "inactive" - for the first 51 years. Then Orthodox for the past 15 years. In fact, it was during a week long retreat at the start of my novice year as a Brother of the Sacred Heart (!!) that I was urged to move toward Orthodoxy. In a small discussion group of four or five brothers, I asked the visiting Jesuit retreat master, where we could find the original Church of the Acts of the Apostles. His answer (he was an Eastern Catholic) : look at Orthodoxy! That was in 1964, I left the order in 1967, and it took me until 1997 to to complete the journey Eastbound. A tortuous path, but worth the trip!

Raised Methodist. Remained so nominally thoughout the earlier part of my life (I was more interested in radical political theory than religion). Flirted with Calvinism (inspired by Jonathan Edwards) for a while, but ultimately converted to Catholicism. Briefly studied in a seminary before leaving to discern Orthodox Christianity. Decided on World (Eastern) Orthodoxy. Went through stage of Orthodox nominalism and agnosticism before discovering Theosophy. I still attend weekly liturgy though (mostly to see family and friends).

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Note : Many of my posts (especially the ones antedating late 2012) do not reflect charity, tact, or even views I presently hold. Please forgive me for any antagonism I have caused.